AMD Radeon RX 6700S vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a fundamentally lopsided comparison. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is a desktop flagship-class part, while the AMD Radeon RX 6700S is a mobile-focused IGP. Across the ten head-to-head tests, the RTX 3080 wins nine, with the RX 6700S taking only a single victory. The average benchmark score reflects this gap: the RTX 3080 averages 23,172, while the RX 6700S averages 22,154, a difference of roughly 1,018 points. However, the percentile rankings are surprisingly close—the RTX 3080 sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6700S sits at the 67th. This suggests that while the RTX 3080 is faster in absolute terms, both cards occupy a similar tier in the broader performance distribution.

For a desktop user with a high-end PSU and room for a dual-slot card, the RTX 3080 is the clear choice. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 4,407 dwarfs the RX 6700S’s 1,451, a 203.7% advantage. In PassMark G3D, the RTX 3080 scores 25,086 versus 15,066, a 66.5% lead. The data indicates the RTX 3080 is for those who need raw compute and rasterization power. Conversely, the RX 6700S, with its 80 W TDP and IGP form factor, is for a portable system. Its single win in Geekbench Vulkan (76,150 vs. 33,620, a -55.9% delta for the RTX 3080) is notable, but it does not compensate for the massive deficits elsewhere in the suite. The RTX 3080 also leads in OpenCL (152,423 vs. 70,965, a 114.8% delta) and GPU compute (14,397 vs. 5,990, a 140.4% delta). In short: choose the RTX 3080 for performance, the RX 6700S for mobility—the data does not support any other conclusion.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is decisively faster, scoring 4,407 compared to the AMD Radeon RX 6700S’s 1,451. This represents a 203.7% performance advantage for the RTX 3080.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon RX 6700S win any benchmark?

A: Yes, it wins exactly one test: Geekbench Vulkan. The RX 6700S scores 76,150, while the RTX 3080 scores 33,620, a delta of -55.9% for the NVIDIA card. This is the only benchmark among the ten where the AMD part comes out ahead.

Q: How do the two cards compare in average benchmark scores?

A: The RTX 3080 has a higher average benchmark score of 23,172, versus 22,154 for the RX 6700S. The difference is about 1,018 points, which is modest relative to the individual test deltas, but the RTX 3080 still leads.

Q: Are the two cards in the same performance percentile?

A: They are very close. The RTX 3080 is in the 68th percentile of all GPUs, while the RX 6700S is in the 67th percentile. Despite the RTX 3080’s large wins in most tests, both cards fall within one percentile point of each other in the global ranking.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card, based on average score?

A: For the RTX 3080, the nearest rival is the NVIDIA P106-100, with an average score of 23,249 and a delta of -0.3%. For the RX 6700S, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5700, with an average score of 22,170 and a delta of -0.1%.

Q: Which card has a higher PassMark G3D score?

A: The RTX 3080 scores 25,086 in PassMark G3D, while the RX 6700S scores 15,066. The RTX 3080 leads by 66.5%, which is one of its larger wins in the suite.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural lineages, which explains their distinct performance profiles. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is built on the GA102 chip using the Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The AMD Radeon RX 6700S uses the Navi 23 chip with RDNA 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. It contains 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die, giving a higher transistor density of 46.7M per mm². This means the AMD chip is more efficient in terms of transistor packing, but it has far fewer transistors overall.

The RTX 3080 features 8,704 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. It also has 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, the latter being critical for AI-accelerated workloads. The RX 6700S has 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, with 28 RT cores but no tensor cores. The absence of tensor cores on the AMD side is a significant architectural divergence, as it eliminates a class of features that the NVIDIA card can leverage for specific compute tasks. The RTX 3080 also supports FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, while the RX 6700S doubles its FP16 throughput at a 2:1 ratio, a difference in math throughput strategy.

Memory architecture also differs sharply. The RTX 3080 uses 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, achieving 760.3 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6700S uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more than three times the memory bandwidth, which is a primary driver of its performance edge in high-resolution and bandwidth-sensitive tests. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API feature parity exists at a high level.

Specification Differences

The specification tables reveal stark contrasts in nearly every field. The RTX 3080 has a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz, while the RX 6700S has a higher base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2000 MHz. The AMD card also lists a game clock of 1890 MHz, which the NVIDIA part does not have. Despite lower clocks, the RTX 3080 achieves higher performance due to its massive resource pool.

Memory specifications diverge completely. The RTX 3080 offers 10 GB of GDDR6X with a 320-bit bus and 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 6700S offers 8 GB of GDDR6 with a 128-bit bus and 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card’s memory clocks run at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed, while the AMD card runs at 1750 MHz with 14 Gbps effective speed. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s for the RTX 3080 versus 128.0 GPixel/s for the RX 6700S. Texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s versus 224.0 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 29.77 TFLOPS versus 7.168 TFLOPS—a roughly 4.2x advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Power and form factor differences are extreme. The RTX 3080 has a TDP of 320 W, requires a 700 W suggested PSU, uses a dual-slot cooler, and has a 1x 12-pin power connector. The RX 6700S has an 80 W TDP, is listed as an IGP, needs no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU. The RTX 3080 measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width; the RX 6700S has no listed dimensions. The RTX 3080 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX 6700S uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs also differ: the RTX 3080 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the RX 6700S is listed as "Portable Device Dependent." The RTX 3080 has a launch MSRP of 699 USD; the RX 6700S has no launch MSRP field.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most dominant win for the RTX 3080 comes in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scores 4,407 against the RX 6700S’s 1,451. That is a 203.7% delta, meaning the NVIDIA card is more than three times as fast in this test. This is the single largest margin in the entire comparison, and it underscores the gulf in raw graphics throughput. The RTX 3080 also excels in compute-heavy tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 152,423 versus 70,965, a 114.8% lead. In PassMark GPU Compute, the margin expands further: 14,397 versus 5,990, a 140.4% delta. These numbers indicate that for any workload leveraging general compute or GPU acceleration, the RTX 3080 is in a different league.

The RTX 3080 also sweeps the DirectX legacy tests. In PassMark DirectX 10, it scores 170 versus 87, a 95.4% lead. In DirectX 11, it scores 207 versus 134, a 54.5% lead. In DirectX 12, it scores 100 versus 58, a 72.4% lead. In DirectX 9, it scores 258 versus 195, a 32.3% lead. The margins shrink as the API age increases, but the RTX 3080 still wins every one. The 2D test is also NVIDIA’s: PassMark G2D shows 1,054 versus 739, a 42.6% delta. The PassMark G3D score of 25,086 versus 15,066 represents a 66.5% advantage, which is more representative of the overall gaming performance gap than the legacy API tests.

The single win for the RX 6700S is in Geekbench Vulkan, where it posts 76,150 against the RTX 3080’s 33,620. The delta is -55.9% for the NVIDIA card, meaning the AMD part is more than twice as fast in this specific Vulkan workload. This is an interesting outlier, as both cards support Vulkan 1.4, but the result suggests the RX 6700S has a particular strength in this API’s compute or rendering paths. It does not, however, translate to wins elsewhere; the RX 6700S loses the OpenCL test by a wide margin despite being the only card with a Geekbench Metal score (72,864), a test the RTX 3080 does not have. Overall, the data shows 9 wins for the RTX 3080 and 1 win for the RX 6700S, with the NVIDIA card leading in every category except the single Vulkan outlier.